Table Mountain fire ‘started by spark’ from match, court told

Cooper is charged with culpable homicide, as a result of the death of British tourist Janet Chesworth, who died in the fire, says a report on the IoL site. He is also charged with violating the National Forestry Act. Cooper testified after Magistrate Wilma van der Merwe dismissed an application launched by his lawyers Reuben Liddell and Joe Weeber, for his acquittal on both counts. He claimed the fire had been started by a spark from a match he had used to light a cigarette while sitting in his car. He said evidence that he had smoked outside the car, and flicked his cigarette end into the dry grass, was ‘absolute rubbish’. Full report on the IoL site